Posted by: Don Linnen | 30 April 2016

Uncertainty

Doubt, disbelief, more doubt, and now uncertainty. A common thread has appeared in my titles over the last nine months.

My daily devotional for 2016 comes from My Utmost for His Highest, the classic work by Oswald Chambers. Yesterday I was encouraged by the graciousness of uncertainty.

This is especially important to a guy who has spent decades trying to get everything just right.

My life: as a Boy Scout, be prepared; an Air Force pilot, use a checklist; an engineer, use predictive analytics; a salesman, forecast revenue.

Think ahead. Plan ahead. Precisely predict. Set two alarms. Be on time. Allow for every contingency. Eliminate uncertainty.

Chambers explains that gracious uncertainty, the mark of a spiritual life, replaces the need to know what’s next with joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Letting go is tough. But being a little out of control is kind of fun.

Will I stop using Dark Sky for micro forecasts of the weather? Probably not. But I suffer no illusions about controlling the weather. Maybe it’s time to cede control over other things in my life and embrace joyful uncertainty.

“To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring.”

Oh wow. I am certainly uncertain.

 

 

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 31 March 2016

More Doubt

Is it surprising that a week after Easter, I’m thinking about doubt? Probably not. That “resurrection from the dead thing” is pretty hard for many people to really buy.

I spent the Easter weekend with my children whom I dearly love and actually like. More than doubt, they don’t believe.

I wrote about doubt last August. That was after a moment with a deep skeptic – probably one of my children. Doubt must permeate my thoughts at some significant level no matter how much I profess to believe.

Last Sunday Pastor Jill Williams reminded me again that Jesus is Risen! I know it, but I needed the reminder.

She said, “faith and doubt work hand in hand.” The etymology of “doubt” goes back to the 13th Century. It often means being of two minds now just as it did 800 years ago.

She gave me the great visual that to doubt is to have a foot in two boats. At some point you believe in one boat. To get your entire body into that one boat literally requires a leap of faith.

Faith and doubt coexist. Faith and doubt make an honest combination. Doubt means you’re thinking.

Faith without doubt is faith without thought. Blind faith, simply accepted, not reasoned, is fragile even if it is correct. Fragile faith is too easily broken. The opposite of faith is unbelief.

Jesus was indeed risen from the dead.

I admit to my doubts, but I believe.

I have less doubt.

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 29 February 2016

Disbelief

Why do I have willing suspension of disbelief while watching far-fetched episodes of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars but not when I watch allegedly “realistic” television shows like NCIS and its spin offs?

Is it the format, the genre, the time period, the subject matter? I don’t think so. For me it’s because some stories are better told than others. They are just better written whether they’re believable or not.

Then there’s the Easter story – the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial, and resurrection from death. The story of that resurrection is really, really hard to believe. It’s not especially well written in its original form, but I believe it anyway.

Why I believe is another story (mine) for another time. Lets get back to this resurrection story. It’s far more interesting.

As a recovering skeptic, there is a new telling of that story that strongly resonates with me. The recently released movie, Risen, views the historic scenes of the Easter story through the eyes of an non-believing Roman soldier…one who is dedicated to his job and determined to find the truth.

After two weeks Risen has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 57% by critics and 79% by audiences. The critics really prefer Kung Fu Panda 3 and Deadpool (a critique of critics?) … but an overtly Christian movie getting a 57 on the rotten tomato meter? Unheard of!

Perhaps everyone who likes this movie shares my worldview. But 79% seems like a very high audience approval rating. Are there some secular viewers of Risen who willingly suspend their disbelief to enjoy a historically accurate CSI Jerusalem set 2000 years ago? Do they just suspend disbelief or do they actually believe?

Janet Denison asks: “Why do people struggle to believe in the resurrection? Most people have an easier time believing that God can create the earth, the skies, and our children, but they struggle to trust He can raise his Son from the dead.” 

This Easter, how many people will emphasize pretty dresses and the Easter bunny over the story of the resurrection? How many avoid or reject that story because they are frightened of being wrong?

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 31 January 2016

The Lesson

Nothing like a set date and time to answer a broad question in public to bring focus to a nebulous answer.

Tomorrow I speak in front of a small group at work about what God’s been teaching me. Here’s a preview of my answer.

He’s been teaching me forever. I’m just now starting to learn.  Or maybe I’m just starting to listen to Him and practice what I’ve learned.

The lesson:  Be still. Wait on Me.

Being still is not my normal mode – even while sleeping.  Waiting, especially waiting patiently, is not a characteristic of mine.

Lately I’ve noticed a developing ability to step back and watch and wait and listen.

Not long ago, and certainly for my recent decades, my reaction to most challenging situations was to jump in, make something happen, fix the problem – and do it immediately.

My thoughts, and sadly sometimes my words, were:

If you can’t see what I see, you must be looking somewhere else – or blind – or willfully ignoring the problem. If you don’t act now and act as fast as I want in the direction I want you must not understand the problem. Or the importance. Or the urgency. You just don’t get it!

My old descriptors: stew, worry, project, fuss, fume, yell, overthink, or talk before thinking.

By stepping back, almost stepping away to observe, my new descriptors are: wait, listen, see, pray, wait some more, pray some more, be still.

Wait patiently upon the Lord, and hope in him: fret not …

                                                                  Psalm 37:7   1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)

It’s not that I’ve totally got it, but I’m getting it. So when you see me acting the old way, please gently remind me: fret not.

You may have to endure my snarl at things not going my way, but I’ll eventually step back, be still, and wait.

And I’ll thank you.

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 30 December 2015

Heart ‘n Soul

A week ago Mandy Patinkin said that you need to “find a way to feed your soul and your mortal heart by taking care of human beings whenever you can.”             – around minute 17 of his interview on the Charlie Rose Show

A reminder that our heart and soul are important.

Lane and Tripp make the point that most non-Christians (and many Christians) believe the Christian life is about keeping rules. Behavior is important, but without heart it’s just a grade. Our heart describes who we are AT OUR CORE.        – on the page for December 19 in Heart of the Matter

A reminder that our heart is really important.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to “love God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “love your neighbor as yourself.”                                – written in chapter 12 by John Mark

A reminder that nothing is more important than our heart and soul.

 

 

 

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 30 November 2015

The Search for Meaning

Another life lesson was handed out this month. Terrorism in Paris, France accounted for 130 deaths. Reactions ranged from devastating sadness to fear and calls for revenge.

A few days after the attack, Scott Pelley on the CBS Evening News provided that excellent life lesson. It is grounded in the past, pertinent for today, and will remain valuable as long as our planet exists.

His reminder is that we’ve seen senseless evil before in cafes, theaters, schools, office buildings, churches, and other settings all over the world. Every time there are grievous losses of life.

EVERY TIME we try to figure out why.

Pelley points us to the defiant letter of Antoine Leirice who refused to give in to the Paris terrorists who killed his wife – the love of his life and mother of his 17-month-old son.

Leirice asserted that the terrorists will not have his hatred. He will not enter into the death spiral of revenge. He goes on to say that his “little boy will insult you with his happiness and freedom.” 

Pelley concludes his lesson with a quote and a rhetorical question. He reminds us of the remarkable Viktor Frankl who lost so many people he loved in concentration camps during WWII. In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl wrote: 

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude…”

Pelley encourages us to search inside of ourselves.  He says: “In these times don’t ask the meaning of life. Life is asking: ‘what’s the meaning of you?’ “

It’s a very good question.

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 31 October 2015

Personal Soundtrack

Music is good for the soul. Often distracted by words discussing current events or telling me a good story from a book, I rarely listen to enough good music. (Good is in the ear of the beholder.) My soul suffers.

My favorite music has varied greatly over the years. It’s heavily influenced by time and circumstance. Much of it can be directly tied to someone or something in my history.

This month my life was surprisingly paired with a new soundtrack. It’s music I’d never heard in conditions I’d never experienced.

In October my wife and I cruised up the Dalmatian Coast on a 493 foot clipper ship with five masts deploying 42 sails. Over the course of a week the Royal Clipper anchored at five ports in Montenegro, Croatia, and Slovenia.

Sailing on a large ship is new to me. My soundtrack moment came with each departure from port. Called the “sail away,” the event is not a fast one. After the four-ton anchor is weighed – not a quick process – the clipper slowly gets underway.

The ship’s barely perceptible forward movement is synchronized to the quietly booming Vangelis composition, Conquest of Paradise. The barely perceptible wake formed as we slowly pull away from Piran, Slovenia is an image now stored in my memory.

 

Departing Piran

 

The soundtrack ingrained it well in my soul. 

Upon reflection, another soundtrack has made it well with my soul for a long time.

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 11 September 2015

Greater Love Hath No Man…

My instinct is to tell you not to forget. But when it happened before you were born, how can you remember?

Maggie, Sabine, Zadie, there are lessons to be learned from this day. Some come from the most unexpected places. They might be here. More likely they’re in a field of wildflowers.

Yesterday the Flight 93 Memorial Museum was dedicated in a small field in Western Pennsylvania. I’ll leave it to you to read the details of this terrible day in 2001. Your great grandmother, my mom, had passed away barely a month earlier. My consoling thought that day 14 years ago was that she was not alive to see this.

9/11 was a tough time for our nation. But like the surge of life in the spring following a summertime forest fire, “the beauty is in the recovery.” That reflection by Cindy Small, a visitor at the Flight 93 dedication, sums up much of what happens to us in life – depending upon our worldview.

On 9/11/2001 many Americans died in New York City and Washington, D.C. In the sky above Pennsylvania on United Flight 93 that day, 40 ordinary people rose to the occasion against insurmountable foes.  

During yesterday’s dedication of the memorial for the brave souls on Flight 93, Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior, said:

“Everyday citizens came face to face with evil, but through their courage and their selflessness saved untold lives and protected another sacred and symbolic American site.”

Sadly I was 17 years old before I memorized any bible verses other than the Lord’s prayer and the 23rd Psalm. A requirement for freshmen (fish) in the Corps at Texas A&M was to learn important pieces of campus history – campusology.

To avoid trouble from upperclassmen, I dutifully memorized the inscription (and thus one more bible verse) on the War Memorial in the Corps Plaza.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 

That’s a lesson from 2000 years ago. It was true on 9/11/2001. It’s still true today.

 

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 29 August 2015

Doubt

My answers are not always quick. My comeback to the sharp critic is not always immediate. My response to the snarky comment is rarely clever. My defense of what I know to be true is not always astute.

It may seem to the skeptic – staring me down during my delayed response – that they are “winning” the point. That they have created doubt in my mind about my own position. That I may be thinking that I am wrong.

Doubt is not always a sign that a man is wrong; it may be a sign that he is thinking.

– Oswald Chambers

Conversely, the skeptic may be expressing doubt in his own strident way. That means he is thinking.

The truth really is out there. Not just “a truth” from a point of view, but the truth. It can be found and sometimes even understood.

Thinking is a good thing. Doubt is not a bad thing.

Keep thinking amidst the doubt.

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Posted by: Don Linnen | 31 July 2015

Horse Trainers

I like horses. They like me – or at least tolerate me. But I’m certainly no horseman, wrangler, jockey, or cowboy. No one in my family ever owned a ranch.

So it’s strange that I was so taken by the documentary movie Buck. It’s a story (mentioned in a previous post) about a remarkable horse trainer, Buck Brannaman, with a remarkable way of getting stallions to do exactly what he wants.

His philosophy is simple: Be gentle in what you do. Firm in how you do it. When signing his books, those words in Latin are written inside the front cover.

Can leading wild horses to be calm contributors be that much different from leading people or even nations? Granted, most people are a lot more complicated than horses; and international relationships are at new, unknown levels of complexity.

But current leadership at the national level exhibits a striking lack of firmness – except when seeking votes. Those vying to be future leaders show little sign they can be gentle – especially with their words. Something needs to change.

Is it time to establish a horse-trainer litmus test for our leaders?

Mini quid facias. Feceris quam firmum.

 

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